The infrastructure required to supply a high quality of continuous, two-way data communication to a mobile communication platform is expensive and complex. A variety of data bearers come into play at various points along a voyage. The various bearers have different capacities, costs per bit, QoS profiles, and geographic zones of coverage. Many variables are subject to optimization to approach any given performance or cost metrics. In the normal course of operation of an MCP, data may be collected at many points along the technical chain on actual performance as a function of time, space, user load, environmental conditions, and other inputs for later analysis and construction of statistical models.
In the course of the voyage of an MCP, depending on given factors, it is advantageous to minimize the consumption of scarce/expensive data bearers and at times to maximize total bandwidth. Another metric subject to goal setting is QoS, which may be expressed as continuity of connectivity, delay, network jitter, packet loss, speed, or any combination.